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Grand Western Archery Society Draft Minutes of Annual General Meeting

held at

West Buckland Village Hall, Silver Street, West Buckland, Somerset TA21 9NA on

Sunday 17th March 2019

47 members in attendance: Jane Rees (President); Paul Atkins (Chairman); Andrew Rees (Hon. Secretary); Ann Jackson (Hon. Treasurer); Rob Morgan (Bitton Archers); Mark Ricketts (Kingston Archers); Malcolm Grant (Brixham Archers); Mark Pledger (Canford Magna); Lizzy Rees (Ballands Bowmen); Phillip Rees (Exeter Co. of Archers); Karen Williams (Exmouth Archers); Paul Burden (Bowmen of Lytchett); Victoria Burden (Bowmen of Lytchett); Peter Brookes (Wellington Bowmen); Alan Davidson (Wellington Bowmen); John Neusinger (Wellington Bowmen); John Cunningham (Yeo Bowmen); Nick Nicholson (South Wilts. Archery Club); Roger Crang (Deer Park Archers); Richard Entwistle (Bath Archers); John Eastaugh (Bowmen of Danesfield); Barry Iles (Bowmen of Danesfield); Janice Reynolds (Sagittarii); Dave Reynolds (Sagittarii); Andy Parkinson (Bowmen of the Tors); Mark Dixon (Plymouth Archers); Lynne Evans (AGB); John Poyner (Exmouth Archers); Paul Callaway (Affiliations Secretary); Phil Gillbanks (AGB); Ann Gillbanks (AGB); Sally Sandoe (Redruth Archers); Jimmy Sandoe (Redruth Archers); Claire Hart (Redruth Archers); Vikki Atkins née Gallop (Bowmen of Hatch); Yvonne Oakshott (AGB); John Bennett (AGB); Tim Jackson (Bowmen of Hatch); Anne Lewin (Coastal Archers); Robin Leveridge (Coastal Archers); Chris Hassall (Mid-Somerset Bowmen); Denise Bunce (Cleve Archers); Malcolm Wootton (Tyndale Archers); Adrian Gifkins (Cheltenham Archers); Jeff Grinnell (Cheltenham Archers); Edward Kain (Cheltenham Archers); Graham Williams (Cheltenham Archers); 1. Apologies.

Apologies were received from 23 members: Judith Brelsford (Newquay Bowmen); Jeff Brewer (Avalon Archery) Margaret Byrnes (Bowmen of the Tors); Mike Byrnes (Bowmen of the Tors); Damian Clulow (Sagittarii); Estelle Edwick (Barnstaple Archery Club); Gerald Farrell (Mere Archers); Julie Hatch (Barnstaple Archery Club); Graham Hobbs (Supermarine); Kay Hobbs (Supermarine); Elaine Hughes (Mounts Bay Archery Club); Malcolm Hughes (Mounts Bay Archery Club); Martin Hutchings (Bitton Archers); Karen Ingram (Yelverton Bowmen); Elaine Jones (Bowmen of Wadebridge); Luke Messinger (Barnstaple Archery Club); Peter Munday (Bowmen of Minchinhampton); Tim Pratt (Exmouth Archers); Louise Rees (Ballands Bowmen); Tony Smith (Devizes Bowmen); Colin Vaughan-Jackson (Ballands Bowmen); Jennie Vaughan-Jackson (Ballands Bowmen); Christopher Vitali (Bowmen of the Tors);

2. Approval of minutes of previous AGM. Tim Jackson proposed, with Malcolm Wootton seconding, that the minutes of the AGM of the 15th of April 2018 be signed as a true record of that meeting. This was put to the vote and AGREED UNANIMOUSLY. The minutes were duly signed by the Chairman, Paul Atkins and the Honorary Secretary, Andrew Rees.

3. Matters Arising. None.

4. Chairman’s report. Paul Atkins reported as follows: Welcome everyone and thank you for taking the time to attend today.

I would ask that we spend a moment to reflect on all those that are no longer with us in particular Sandra Robinson a member of the Region and the Royal Toxophilite Society. I am sure there are others known to you as well. We should also remember those from outside our Region and around the world, in particular Drasko Mihinjac from Croatia who a number of archers and officials from the region will have known and worked with: we are one large family!

With one year as Chairman under my belt and another shooting season passed, it is time to reflect on what we as a committee have done over the last 12 months for our members.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone that volunteers in our sport throughout the region at every level. From those that work on their club committees, run beginners courses, County committees etc through to my fellow committee members on the GWAS council. Without you very little would happen, events would not run, clubs not function and the new people to our sport would dry up. You are a rare breed and we need to search out and encourage new people to take on roles at all levels. With this in mind, it was agreed that we should start to formally recognise our volunteers and those people that do great things for our sport

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and have therefore set up an Awards Panel so that we can ensure people feel appreciated for the time and energy they give to our sport. Details will be circulated in the coming months of the process and awards available.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Malcolm Wootton who is standing down after many years as county representative for Gloucestershire.

This brings us on to how we communicate with you, the members and understand what you require of us. This will be covered in detail during the strategic planning presentation following this meeting which I hope you will all be able to stay for.

We have run our normal calendar of events throughout the year with great success: my thanks to the tournament organizers for these events. They/we have tried to listen to feedback from each event and react accordingly. This was demonstrated at the GWAS Indoor Championships with the introduction of foam bosses, timing system and electronic scoring, all of which was a great success. Thanks are due to DCAS for the use of their electronic scoring system and to Tim Pratt and Andrew Hoyle for offering to run it on day. A real positive was that we had a waiting list for this event which has not been seen for many years: something that will be addressed for 2020.

Dunster week continues to be our ‘Jewel in the Crown’ event, with numbers remaining fairly constant year on year. My thanks goes to Vikki for dealing with an event that is a year round organisational process and ensuring we remain on good terms with the National Trust, whose wishes and demands change year on year for this event.

The Senior and Junior Intercounties events continue to run well. My thanks go to Tim Pratt and Vicky Burden for organising these events, but Tim and Vicky do need support if these tournaments are to continue in their current manner. Work parties on the day are required for both events, so can each county please look to help with this and therefore spread the load?

Judging - we are still in need of more judges within the region. AGB’s decision to change the Judges uniform, requiring a substantial investment in new apparel and how candidate judges are inducted is not helping the situation, but we as a region will look to support our judges wherever we can to facilitate taking up this important role.

EAF - Thank you to our two Representatives. EAF has gone through a name change and will now be known as Archery England with a rebranding taking place. This is ahead of Archery potentially being in the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham following a very polished presentation to the Commonwealth Games commission in conjunction with AGB. We wait and hope that it was a success and England can replicate the success that was achieved in Delhi in 2010.

Archery England have again put out the call for archers to submit scores to represent England, please encourage your fellow archers throughout the region to submit their scores even if they believe they are not good enough: they could be surprised and have the opportunity to pull on an England shirt.

Chris Vitali is standing down as one of our GWAS Reps. and I thank him on behalf of the region for all his hard work in this role.We therefore have a vacancy………any takers?

I am pleased to see how well Dorset & Wiltshire have returned from the brink with an enthusiastic Chairman and committee. We all need to be aware that unless we seek out new blood for these roles then we are all potentially on the brink of being in the same position that they found themselves in!

AGB Regional Chairmans meeting - I spent a day with my fellow regional chair persons and all the heads of departments at AGB. I found it to be a very positive event and look forward to the next one. I did write a report and it was sent to your County secretaries to be distributed to clubs. Have you seen it? What I did take away from it was that AGB wish to react to what the membership wants rather than tell them what they can have and they really want to talk to people. If you have a question I can only encourage you to bypass the email and pick up the phone and talk to someone. You will be surprised at how much you will get out of that interaction!

AGB has a plan based on what the membership has told them and some bold ideas in how to address the identified needs. They have a lot to offer if you choose to interact and work with with them moving forward. Exciting times ahead!

Finally I would like to say that we need to recognise how much talent, experience and knowledge across all areas of our sport we have in our Region: organisational, governance, performance, International, technical etc. If we can capitalise on this strength then the future looks bright and exciting for GWAS and those within it!

I look forward to my second year in office.

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5. Hon. Treasurer’s report. a Affiliations Secretary’s report. Note: This should be read in conjunction with sheets 1 to 3 in the appendix.

Paul Callaway, Affiliations Secretary, prefaced his remarks with acknowledgment of the help he had received from the Counties’ treasurers during the year. Three information sheets were tabled and Paul remarked on them as follows: Sheet 1: Year-on-year, GWAS has 205 fewer junior and 79 fewer senior members, though it should be pointed out that there were actually 103 fewer senior club members, a figure which was partly balanced by an additional 24 direct members. Sheet 2: The table on the bottom left of the sheet shows losses and gains. It is no obvious why losses occur, but the Affiliations Secretary drew the members’ attention to the fact that university club membership numbers were especially volatile, with 1332 members last year against an apparent 800 this year. Sheet 3: This provides information on the senior affiliations on a county by county basis. The Affiliations Secretary noted that there was no obvious reason for the dips in two of the county’s membership. It was remarked from the floor that there was a demographic dip in the number of 18 year-olds which seem likely to influence numbers for up to 4 years. When questioned as to why there was a lack of certain information from SCAA, the Affiliations Secretary noted that Somerset had suffered some administrative problems which had delayed production of information.

b Presentation and acceptance of the accounts for the year ending 31.12.2018

The Honorary Treasurer tabled examined accounts for the year ending 31st

December 2018 and gave a précis for the members, as the full accounts run to 20 pages of technical information. The Honorary Treasurer noted that there was approximately £143,000 balance at the bank. Ann Jackson, seconded by Jane Rees, proposed that the accounts should be accepted. This was put to the vote and AGREED, with one abstention and none against. Copies of the accepted accounts were then signed on behalf of the Society by Paul Atkins and Ann Jackson. These signed copies to be sent to the accountants for counter-signature and a copy sent back to the Honorary Treasurer for deposit in the Society’s financial records. The Honorary Treasurer also tabled an income and expenditure account of the costs of GWAS tournaments in 2018, together with an account summary for all GWAS income and expenditure for the year ending 31

st

December 2018. These documents may be found in the appendix.

6. Affiliation subscription for 2018/2019. The GWAS Council recommended that there should be no change the annual subscription. It was proposed by the Honorary Treasurer, Ann Jackson, seconded by Lizzy Rees, that Council’s recommendation be accepted. This was put to the vote and AGREED, with one abstention and none against.

7. Election of the Society’s Officers. Nominations for the following offices had been received by the Hon. Secretary and were put to the meeting: PRESIDENT: Jane Rees Proposed: Jennie Vaughan-Jackson, Seconded: Andrew Rees. CHAIRMAN: Paul Atkins Proposed: Vikki Gallop, Seconded: Ann Jackson. HON. SECRETARY: Andrew Rees Proposed: Adam Strachan-Stephens, Seconded: Jennie Vaughan-Jackson. HON. TREASURER: Ann Jackson Proposed: Paul Atkins, Seconded: Vikki Gallop. These nominations were put to the vote and AGREED UNANIMOUSLY.

8. Election of the Society’s specialist officers and members. Nominations for the following positions had been received by the Hon. Secretary and were put to the meeting: TOURNAMENT SEC.: Vikki Gallop Proposed: Paul Atkins, Seconded: Ann Jackson. EQUIPMENT OFFICER: Chris Hassall Proposed: Ann Jackson, Seconded: Paul Burden. JUNIOR REP.: Vicky Burden Proposed: Ann Jackson, Seconded: Jane Rees. FIELD REP.: Andrew Rees Proposed: Jane Rees, Seconded: Ann Jackson. ARCHIVIST & LIBRARIAN: Chris Hassall Proposed: Andrew Rees, Seconded: Yvonne Oakshott. GWAS REP. to EAF: Peter Brookes Proposed: John Neusinger, Seconded: Alan Davidson. GWAS REP. to EAF: Andy Parkinson Proposed: Karen Williams, Seconded: Ann Jackson. AFFILIATIONS SEC.: Paul Callaway Proposed: Ann Jackson, Seconded: Jane Rees. PROTECTION OFFICER: Paul Burden Proposed: Ann Jackson, Seconded: Vikki Gallop. RECORDS OFFICER: Andrew Rees Proposed: Jane Rees, Seconded: Ann Jackson. COMMS. OFFICER: Tim Jackson Proposed: Karen Williams, Seconded: Andrew Rees. These nominations were put to the vote and AGREED UNANIMOUSLY.

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9. Confirmation of the election of the Regional Coaching Officer. Lizzy Rees was confirmed as Regional Coaching Officer

10. Confirmation of the election of the Judges’ Liaison Officer. Phil Gillbanks was confirmed as Judges’ Liaison Officer.

11. Notification of County representatives to Regional Council for 2019/20. The following representatives were notified to the meeting: Devon and Cornwall Archery Society: Karen Williams and John Poyner; Dorset and Wiltshire Archery Association: Vicky Burden and Paul Burden; Gloucestershire Archery Society: Adrian Gifkins and Denise Bunce; Somerset County Archery Association: Robin Leveridge and John Eastaugh.

12. Hon. Treasurer’s recommendation of suitable accountant. Ann Jackson, Honorary Treasurer, recommended the firm of Thomas Westcott should be re-engaged to prepare accounts in accordance with Clause 9 of the GWAS Constitution. This was proposed by Ann Jackson, seconded by Lynne Evans, was put to the vote and AGREED UNANIMOUSLY.

The meeting was closed at 1.20pm.

Signed as a true record on Sunday 15th March 2020, at the 2020 G.W.A.S. A.G.M.

Paul Atkins Andrew Rees G.W.A.S. Chairman G.W.A.S. Hon. Sec.

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APPENDICES

1) Affiliations sheet 1

2) Affiliations sheet 2

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3) Affiliations sheet 3

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4) GWAS income and expenditure:

5) GWAS tournament income and expenditure: